


a human in your heart of hearts

by TheDragonofHouseMormont



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 22:13:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7332700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragonofHouseMormont/pseuds/TheDragonofHouseMormont
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arya falls asleep at the campus library only to be woken up after closing by a man who works there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a human in your heart of hearts

She was running through the woods, the pads of her feet speeding across rocks and leaves and twigs.  The smell of blood pervaded the air.  Her target was not far.  She could hear a voice in the distance, calling to her, but she ignored it, narrowing her focus on the smell of blood and the footprints in the soil.

 _Hello?_ the voice called.  _Lovely girl?_  Arya jerked against a pressure on her left shoulder and opened her eyes, the day of the forest giving way to darkness.  She lifted her face away from the hard table she’d been sleeping on, looking up to see a man standing before her.  The faint light coming in through the window reflected off half of his hair which appeared to be white, the other half much darker.  “Lovely girl?” he repeated.

“What’s going on?” she asked in response.

The man laughed softly.  “A girl fell asleep.”  At her confused look he expanded on his statement, “A girl is in the library and fell asleep.  We closed fifteen minutes ago.”

“Oh.”  She looked down at the books and notebook in front of her.  “Sorry, I’ll just clean up my stuff.”  She scrambled up, stacking her books under his gaze that she couldn’t make out in the dark.  Her hand fell on one of the books, and she remembered flipping through it earlier, finding nothing of use.  “Just a minute, I need to put this one up.”

Without waiting for his reply, Arya disappeared down the stacks, walking her way back to where she originally found the book.  She followed along the numbers until she found the space where the book belonged.  On the top shelf.  She’d gotten it down earlier by jumping… and accidently throwing it into the bookcase behind her.  Luckily, no one had been in the aisle at that time.

Looking around, she didn’t see any stools – they’d probably been moved somewhere else for the evening.  With a sigh, she returned to the spot where the book belonged and reached up, standing on her toes and leaning on a shelf in front of her, but she couldn’t manage to slide the book back into place.  _Well, if jumping had worked earlier, it should work now,_ she reasoned.  Stepping back to give herself a head start, Arya ran at the bookcase, leaping into the air.  Her arm reached high enough, the book just about to slide into place—

—before hitting the book next to it.  The text in her hand bounced off, out of her grip, and into the darkness behind her.  “Close one,” she heard someone mumble.  She spun around to see the man reach down and pick up her fallen book.  “If a girl needed help,” he said.  “All she had to do was ask.  There was no need to throw something at a man, lovely girl.”  He smiled at her.

Arya crossed her arms.  “Stop calling me that.”

“A girl hasn’t told a man her name,” he responded and Arya tried to place his accent and odd syntax.  “A man has to call her something.”

She shrugged and stood aside, watching as he stepped forward and placed the book on the top shelf without a problem.  “Thanks,” she offered dismissively before returning to the table with her things.

Much to her annoyance, he followed her back to the table.  “Has a girl checked out all of those books?”

She looked down at the stack in her hands and realized she hadn’t thought about it.  “Um, no?”

“The computers have already been shut down,” he informed her.

“But I _need_ these,” she told him.  “I’m writing a paper.”

“What about?”

She took a deep breath.  “Wolf-Alice.  It’s a short story by Angela Carter.  It’s about a girl who was raised by wolves and goes to live with a man that has no reflection.  I’m writing about its themes of identity and how they tie into social isolation and the freedom of the wild.”

“Alright,” he said with a smile.  “A girl may take the books with her and a man will check them out in the morning.  But he’ll need to write down their titles and numbers.”

She set the books back down on the table, opened her notebook, ripped out a blank piece of paper, and handed it to him with her pen.  He stood closer to her, examining each book in turn to write down the information.  Arya held her ground, refusing to be intimidated into moving further away from him.  If he wanted to ignore the rules of personal space, she was willing to match him in the battle.

Once done with the books, he turned to her, his face closer to hers than she had originally expected.  He was close enough that she could tell he smelled like autumn spices and could see through the darkness that the other half of his hair was actually a beautiful red.  “A girl’s name?” he asked.

She was almost tempted to back away at the close proximity, but held her ground.  “Arya,” she answered.  “Arya Stark.”

He scribbled her name down onto the paper, folded it, and slid it into his pocket.  “Arya Stark,” he repeated.  “A man is Jaqen H’ghar.”  He held out his hand.

Cautiously, she accepted it.  “Thank you, Jaqen.”  Retrieving her hand, she picked up her things once more.  “Um, have a good night,” she told him, heading for the exit, knowing he was still at her side.

“Would Arya Stark like to get some tea?” he offered.  “Or coffee?”

She paused in her steps, looking up at him.  As she thought on it, she knew she wanted to say yes.  He was interesting in all his oddness, and she was curious as to why he agreed to help her only _after_ he’d heard about her research topic.  But Sansa and Margaery would already be back at the apartment, and her sister was probably worrying why she hadn’t come home yet.  “I want to,” she answered honestly.  “But I can’t.  My sister is probably wondering where I am and I should really start on this paper.”

“Here,” he said, holding out his hand.  She handed him her notebook and pen again.  He opened it to the first page, scribbling on it.  “A man’s number, should a girl wish to find him again.”

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Dazzle by Oh Wonder


End file.
